Containers find broad use in the shipment of many types of goods, especially bulk goods. Examples of bulk goods include many food items such as candy and snack foods, small hardware items, small toys and other consumer products. Increasingly, such containers have been found useful for the display and dispensing of the goods at the point of purchase in addition to their traditional function as a shipping container.
Conventional corrugated paperboard containers do not readily fulfill all of the requirements currently imposed upon them for the efficient shipment and display of bulk goods. An improved container would desirably include the following characteristics: (1) inexpensive to manufacture; (2) easily shipped to the user; (3) readily assembled and filled using automated equipment; (4) resistant to crushing or bursting when stacked; and (5) easily converted from a shipping container to a container for display and dispensing of the goods.
To insure that an improved container would be inexpensive to manufacture, it is advantageous to fabricate the container from a minimum of separate pieces. Preferably, the container should be formable by machine from a die cut blank or blanks with a minimum of hand labor operations necessary. Ease of shipment to a user can be achieved if the container is formable from the blank into a knockdown state which lies folded in a substantially flat configuration so as to occupy a minimum of space during shipment. The knockdown state also allows the container to be readily assembled and filled using automated equipment, as the knockdown is designed to be unfolded from its flat configuration into a container and then filled entirely by machine. Resistence to crushing or bursting when stacked is achieved by reinforcing the container wall panels with adjacently positioned reinforcing panels which help share the load of the contents and the weight of containers stacked above. Lastly, ease of conversion from a shipping container to a container for display and dispensing of the goods can be readily afforded by the use of a pull-out panel comprising one of the wall panels. The pull-out panel should allow the wall panel to be opened to reveal and dispense the contents of the container. It should have the strength to resist bursting open during container shipment or when stacked, and yet be easily manually opened without the need of tools or cutting when desired.
It is an object of the invention to provide an inexpensive container which can serve to ship bulk goods and to display and dispense the goods at a point of purchase.
It is another object of the invention to provide a container having a pull-out panel in one of its side walls which can be opened to display and dispense the goods in the container and which does not require special set up at the retail site.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a container which can be fabricated from a minimum of pieces formed from die cut blanks.
It is another object of the invention to provide a container which can be formed into a knockdown state from die cut blanks.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a container which has a knockdown state which can be readily unfolded and filled with goods by automated machinery.
It is another object of the invention to provide a container which will resist bursting and crushing when stacked or shipped.
These and other objects will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and detailed description of preferred embodiments.